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Calculation Example - Creep Assessment

For tubes or pipes operating in the creep regime, the following questions are asked:

1. What is the estimated time to failure at a given operating pressure, metal

temperature and corrosion rate (metal thinning rate)?
2. For a specified operating pressure and corrosion rate, what temperature limit
must be imposed for the tube to last a minimum period of time?
3. How much must the operating temperature be reduced to extend the life of the
tubes or pipes by a given period of time?

The calculation of an answer for Question 1 is illustrated below. Consider an example of

fired heater radiant tubes, under the following conditions:

Material = 18Cr-10Ni-Cb (Type 347 stainless steel)

Outside diameter (Do) = 168.3mm
Initial thickness (ti) = 6.8mm

The furnace tubes are known to have been in service for approximately 8 years:

8 years x 365.25 days x 24 hours = 70,128 hours operating life

For a creep design life of 100,000 hours, this furnace has used ~70% of its life. However,
the tubes are subject to a metal thinning rate (MTR) of 0.15mm/yr from, for example,
combined internal corrosion and external oxidation.

This assessment module makes use of the Life Fraction Rules (LFR). The operation of
the furnace is divided into periods of time in which the pressure, metal temperature, and
corrosion rate are assumed constant.

For each of these periods, the creep life fraction consumed is calculated. The sum of
these fractions for each period, is the total accumulated creep damage.

The tube internal pressure hoop stress (S) for each period, calculated from accumulated
metal loss due to thinning at the end of the period is used, which is considered to
provide sufficient conservatism, as follows:

S = (Po / 2)((Do / te) – 1)

The minimum Larson-Miller Parameters (LMPmin) are determined from the pressure
hoop stress (S) using the curves in API RP 530, as follows:

LMPmin = A0 +A1S + A2S2 + A3lnS + A4e-S

In this example, refer to Figure 3O (SI) – Types 347. In an actual heater, neither the
operating pressure nor the metal temperature is uniform.

However, for this calculation these parameters are treated as uniform:

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Period #
Duration (increment)
Operating pressure (Po)
Metal temperature (To)
Initial thickness (ti)
Thickness, end of period (te)
Stress (S)
LMPmin
logLr
Lr
Life fraction (minimum)
=1
= 1.3years x 365.25days x 24hours = 11,396 hours
= 3.96MPa
= 649°C
= 6.8mm
= 6.8 – (1.3 x 0.15) = 6.61mm
= (3.96/2)((168.3/6.61)–1) = 48.5MPa (7.03ksi)
= 34.36 (US units)
= 10[(LMPx1000)/(To+460)-15] (US units)
= 494,957 hours
= 11,396 / 494,957 = 0.023

The life fractions are the increment period (11,396 hours) divided by the rupture time
that corresponds to that period.

To calculate cumulative life fraction, the above calculation is simply repeated in

increments (periods) of 1.3 years, and the accumulated creep damage is the sum of the
fractions for each period.

At each calculation increment, the strength of tube should also be checked for failure by
plastic collapse. This will occur if the tube stress (which is continually increasing due to
corrosion) is equal to the allowable elastic strength (Se) at the specified operating
temperature.

Se is equal to two-thirds of the specified minimum yield strength (SMYS, σy) of the tube
material at design temperature (T).

The calculation of SMYS for 18Cr-10Ni-Cb (Type 347 stainless steel) is based on Table
F.3 in API RP579, as follows:

σy = σry (A0 +A1T + A2T2 + A3T3 + A4T4 +A5T5)

σry is the yield strength (ie. 24.1ksi) at the temperature of 400°F (for TP347SS). In this
particular example (after substituting values for Ai and T in the above formula), if T =
700°C then σy = 18.49ksi (127.45MPa). Se is therefore equal to 85.0MPa. The minimum
allowable thickness (temin) at a design temperature of 700°C and at a design pressure of
4MPa is calculated as in API RP530. temin is equal to 3.87mm.

Failure will occur when either of the following conditions is reached:

i. By plastic collapse, when tactual < temin; or

ii. By creep rupture occurs when cumulative life fraction is greater than one.

These failure criteria are highlighted in red in the following table. The remaining life is
then simply calculated as the cumulative period (148,148 hours) at which any of these
two criteria are first reached, minus the operating life (70,128 hours). This is equal to
78,020 hours.

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No. Cumulative Po To MTR te S temin LMP Time to Cumulative

# Period (hrs) (MPa) (°C) (mm/yr) (mm) (MPa) (mm) (US units) Rupture (hrs) Life Fraction
1 11,396 3.96 649 0.15 6.60 48.47 3.87 34.36 494,957 0.023
2 22,792 3.96 649 0.15 6.41 50.01 3.87 34.25 427,318 0.050
3 34,188 3.96 649 0.15 6.21 51.64 3.87 34.14 367,318 0.081
4 45,584 3.96 649 0.15 6.02 53.37 3.87 34.03 314,283 0.117
5 56,980 3.96 649 0.15 5.82 55.23 3.87 33.91 267,579 0.160
6 68,376 3.96 649 0.15 5.63 57.21 3.87 33.79 226,617 0.210
7 79,772 3.96 649 0.15 5.43 59.33 3.87 33.67 190,843 0.270
8 91,168 3.96 649 0.15 5.24 61.61 3.87 33.54 159,745 0.341
9 102,564 3.96 649 0.15 5.04 64.07 3.87 33.41 132,845 0.427
10 113,960 3.96 649 0.15 4.85 66.73 3.87 33.27 109,699 0.531
11 125,356 3.96 649 0.15 4.65 69.61 3.87 33.13 89,898 0.657
12 136,752 3.96 649 0.15 4.46 72.74 3.87 32.98 73,065 0.813
13 148,148 3.96 649 0.15 4.26 76.15 3.87 32.82 58,851 1.007
14 159,544 3.96 649 0.15 4.07 79.90 3.87 32.66 46,937 1.250
15 170,940 3.96 649 0.15 3.87 84.02 3.87 32.49 37,032 1.557
16 182,336 3.96 649 0.15 3.68 88.57 3.87 32.31 28,870 1.952
17 193,732 3.96 649 0.15 3.48 93.64 3.87 32.12 22,211 2.465
18 205,128 3.96 649 0.15 3.29 99.31 3.87 31.92 16,837 3.142
19 216,524 3.96 649 0.15 3.09 105.69 3.87 31.71 12,553 4.050
20 227,920 3.96 649 0.15 2.90 112.93 3.87 31.48 9,186 5.291

The effect of uncertainty about the operating temperature should be investigated by

sensitivity analysis, ie. an analysis of how sensitive the outcomes (calculated lives) are to
changes in the assumptions (metal temperatures).

Note: Question 2 and Question 3 in this example is best answered using the
sensitivity calculator in Creep Module in ENGFit Toolbox.

© TWI Ltd, 2005 Page 3 of 3 Revision 1